


put your hand in mine

by heyshawty



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M, i love this concept, jeno doing his best, markhyuck is a side ship, the dreamies are good friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 21:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21775603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyshawty/pseuds/heyshawty
Summary: jeno does everything he can do make sure jaemin has everything he needs
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 128





	put your hand in mine

Renjun is the first to notice.

It shouldn’t be surprising, given that Renjun had always been the most perceptive one out of them all. Yet, his question still catches Jeno off-guard, even though he should have known someone, most likely Renjun, was going to bring it up.

“I’ve been thinking recently,” Renjun pauses and fiddles with the handle of his mug. He clears his throat and Jeno raises his eyebrows in a questioning glance.

They--Renjun and Jeno--are sitting in a cafe to catch up on recent events. It’s been three weeks since either of them had any sort of human interaction, thanks to their midterms. Jeno honestly doesn’t remember much from the past weeks, only that it had flashed by in what seemed like a fever dream of caffeine, late nights, and breakdowns. Not a fun time to be in.

Jeno makes a questioning sound from the back of his throat, wordlessly asking his friend to elaborate his previous statement. Renjun sets down his spoon carefully, as if he’s approaching a difficult situation. “You always...coddle Jaemin more than the rest of us. Did you know that?”

Jeno doesn’t look up from his phone, too busy playing some game Jaemin suggested to him the other day. “What do you mean?”

There’s a silence, and Jeno taps on his screen two more times before finally looking up to face his Chinese friend. Renjun’s glaring at him, a gaze so intense that would usually instill one’s fight-or-flight response. However, having known each other for more than ten years, Jeno just pouts in retaliation, eyes wide in the picture of innocence. Rolling his eyes, Renjun sighs, “You’re playing dumb right now, you know what I mean.”

Jeno casts his gaze away from Renjun’s prying eyes. He fiddles with the sleeve of his shirt, scratches at the wood grain on the table. He does  _ anything _ just to avoid answering his friend’s question. Renjun’s still staring at him with a questioning gaze in his eyes; Jeno can practically  _ feel _ it attempting to prod through his mind.

“I don’t know,” he mutters. “I don’t know why, I just feel the need to make sure he’s got everything. You know?”

His face burns bright as he continues to mumble incoherent words to the air. Jeno’s not even sure if Renjun can hear him over the chattering of the other patrons in the cafe, but his friend makes no move or sounds. 

After what feels like an eternity, Jeno sees Renjun’s lithe fingers slide into his field of vision. Renjun taps his pinky on the tip of Jeno’s own, “It’s alright, I understand.”

Jeno just nods mutely before whispering, “Please don’t tell the others.” 

Renjun doesn’t say anything, but offers Jeno a reassuring smile before picking up his spoon and returning his attention to his soup.

When Jeno asks for an extra cup of coffee to go at the end of their meal, Renjun only gives him a knowing look.

\---

Donghyuck, and by extension, Mark, is the next one to realize.

“You know Jaemin can take care of himself perfectly fine, right?”

Jeno’s fingers momentarily freeze over the napkin he’s placed as a bib over Jaemin’s shirt before continuing to smooth over the creases. He feels his ears burn hot as he feels the questioning gaze of his friends over his actions.

It’s a Saturday afternoon, and Donghyuck, Mark, Jaemin, and Jeno decided to meet up after not seeing each other for a while. They used to be neighbors, where Donghyuck and Mark lived right next door in the apartment next to Jaemin and Jeno. However, the couple recently moved out together due to lack of space and had spent the past month looking for their perfect place. 

“Yeah, but I just...thought I’d help out,” he says, lamely.

He quickly finishes fussing over the napkin bib and catches Jaemin’s eye just as he’s retreating back to his seat. Warm eyes and a bright smile greet him and he releases some of the tension in his shoulders. Jeno also feels the weight of Donghyuck’s eyes on him, but Mark, bless his soul, diverts his attention away.

About thirty minutes into their meal, Jaemin excuses himself to the bathroom. Donghyuck watches Jaemin’s figure disappear behind the wall and waits a few seconds before pouncing on Jeno.

“How long has that been going on?” He demands. Both Mark and Jeno wince at the intensity of Donghyuck’s voice and Jeno nervously picks at his napkin. 

“Jeno. Spill. How long have you and Jaemin been a thing?”

Mark gently nudges Donghyuck and silently reprimands him for being too rash. Donghyuck glances at Jeno’s downtrodden figure and mumbles out an apology.

A few seconds of awkward silence pass before Jeno blurts, “We’re not a thing.”

Donghyuck raises an eyebrow at that. Even Mark has trouble hiding his surprise, and Jeno fights the urge to hide under the table.

“What do you mean,” Mark asks slowly, “you’re not a thing?” 

Jeno shrugs, “We just...haven’t made anything clear.”

Donghyuck narrows his eyes at his friend, “You’re not making anything clear. Why are you being so cryptic? I don’t like it, what happened to the say-things-straight Jeno I used to know? Where’d he go?”

“Where’d who go?” 

Jaemin appears again, back from the bathrooms. Jeno panics (what if he’d heard them?) and sneaks a glance up at Jaemin. The other boy looks concerned, but he shows no signs of hearing their conversation. 

“We were just wondering where you went,” Donghyuck jumps in. “You were taking too long and we all got worried.”

Jaemin raises his eyebrows in disbelief, “I was gone for not even five minutes, Hyuck.”

“That’s too long,” Donghyuck snips. “I never spend more than two minutes in a public restroom.”

Jaemin just rolls his eyes and sits on the edge of the seat, next to Jeno.

Jeno sends his friend a quick silent message of thanks, and Donghyuck discreetly winks at him.

When dessert comes around and Jeno gives the best looking slice of cake with the juiciest peach on top to Jaemin, Mark and Donghyuck wordlessly accept their smaller pieces with bits of strawberry jam on top. 

\---

It takes the kids a little longer, but soon, they find out too. 

It’s a Saturday afternoon, and Jeno is lazily watching some anime re-run on his couch when the door suddenly bursts open. Startled, Jeno screeches and falls off with a solid  _ thunk _ onto the carpeted floor of his living room. Two  _ very familiar  _ voices reach his ears and he groans as he lifts his head to see Chenle and Jisung, the two freshmen Jaemin had decided to adopt in the beginning of the year. 

“Jaemin,” he calls out weakly, “your kids are here.”

The door to Jaemin’s room swings open and the honey-haired male immediately barrels into Jisung and Chenle.

“My children!” he cries. “What a pleasant surprise!”

“You literally called us over here.” Jisung struggles in Jaemin’s death embrace while Chenle just laughs and snuggles closer to the older male. “It’s not really a surprise if you knew we were coming.”

“Still, I always love it when my favorite kids come to visit me. You guys grow up so fast.” Jaemin melodramatically clutches at his chest and both Chenle and Jisung roll their eyes while Jeno just laughs fondly.

Jeno drags himself off the ground as Jaemin’s excited chatter of preparing a meal reaches his ears. He knows they don’t have any groceries--both of them never had any time to with their busy schedules--so he knows Jaemin would need to go out for materials. 

Jeno frowns, “Jaemin, you’re still recovering from a cold. I’ll go buy the groceries instead.”

Jaemin coos and Jeno’s brain short circuits as Jaemin squishes his cheeks between his hands. “That’s so cute! But would you even know what to buy? It’ll be fine, Jeno, I’ll only be gone for thirty minutes tops. Besides, I’ll be inside most of the time anyway.”

Jeno raises his arms in defeat, knowing that changing Jaemin’s mind at this point was useless. “I’ll go grab your coat,” Jeno mutters, and Jaemin grins before letting go of Jeno’s face.

“You’re the best,” he says, and runs off to find a grocery bag.

Jeno walks back to Jaemin’s room and finds his thick winter coat hanging in his closet. After a moment of contemplation, he goes into his own room and picks up one of his hats and scarfs as well. 

He walks back into the living room and sees Jaemin is already standing by the door, bag in hand. His eyes light up as he notices Jeno holding his coat and extends his arms to grab the coat. Jeno carefully places his hat on Jaemin’s head and wraps his scarf around Jaemin’s neck.

“To keep you warm,” he mumbles and steps away. He thinks Jaemin looks the cutest like this: all bundled up and warm in his hat and scarf.  _ My hat and scarf _ , Jeno’s monkey brain gloats.

A fond look quickly crosses over Jaemin’s face. “Thanks,” he whispers, and disappears behind the door to buy their groceries. 

“So, you and Jaemin, huh?”

Jeno whips around to see Jisung’s smug face. He curses, having forgotten that the two devil twins were present the entire time. He glares at Jisung, who only shrugs in response. “It’s ok, Jeno. It’s very understandable. Jaemin is very likeable, after all. I just didn’t know you two made it official--”

“We didn’t,” Jeno cuts in, “we didn’t make it official. We’re not together, at least not romantically.”

Chenle frowns at this. “But you guys are the most domestic people ever! You even beat Mark and Donghyuck, and that’s saying something because they’ve been a couple for three  _ years _ .”

Jeno shrugs, and sighs. “I’d be more than happy to date Jaemin but I’m not sure if he feels the same way.”

In the midst of his pity party, the door flies open, and Jisung and Chenle’s eyes go comically wide. Jeno spins around to see Jaemin himself standing at the frame. “I forgot something,” he says breathlessly before dropping the bag on and ground and lunging into Jeno’s arms. Alarmed, Jeno staggers back a little and tightens his grip on the boy. “Jaemin? Are you ok?”

Jaemin giggles, “I’ve never been better.” A wide grin is the last thing Jeno sees before Jaemin is pressing his lips onto his.

All thoughts were thrown out of his head as the only thing that remained was how  _ right _ everything felt. From the arms wrapping around his waist to the smell of the other engulfing his system, the world could end right there and Jeno wouldn’t have even minded. 

Somewhere behind him, he faintly hears both Jisung and Chenle screaming like madmen, but he could care less.

They pull apart and Jeno takes in the beauty that is Na Jaemin’s face. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that,” Jeno whispers.

A ghost of a smile makes its way onto Jaemin’s face. Quietly, he says, “Oh, trust me. I think I have an idea.” 

**Author's Note:**

> i saw a minute and a half compilation on twitter of just jeno doing things for jaemin and i immediately felt the need to make this. i’m sorry lol  
> thanks for reading !! feel free to leave a kudos/comment if you enjoyed :)  
> [cc](https://curiouscat.me/purenjunnn)


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